Nymera's POV
The world swam back in pieces.
Pain first. A sharp, searing ache across my wrists and ankles.
Then cold—the floor under me was stone, rough and damp.
And finally, the scent.
Rot. Blood. Magic gone sour.
I opened my eyes to darkness.
Chains clinked when I moved. My hands were shackled above my head, my legs pinned. Panic rose in my throat like bile.
"She's awake," a voice hissed nearby.
A torch flared to life, blinding me for a second.
When my vision cleared, I saw him.
The cloaked figure from the council chamber.
Now unmasked.
A face pale as bone, eyes burning black with a red core.
Not human.
Not wolf.
Something older. Something worse.
"You shifted," he said, voice scraping against the walls. "Faster than expected. Good. Stronger vessels last longer."
I struggled against the chains, fury boiling through me. "Who the hell are you?"
He chuckled, low and hollow. "Names are for those who intend to leave here alive."
I bared my teeth, the remnants of my wolf form snarling inside me.
"I wouldn't waste your energy," he said calmly, circling me like a vulture. "This place is older than your ancestors. No shifting. No magic. Only truth."
I jerked my wrists hard enough to make the shackles bite deep.
The figure crouched in front of me.
"I have been waiting for you, Nymera," he said. "Your blood. Your power. You carry more than you know."
"I'm nobody," I spat.
"Wrong," he said, smiling coldly. "You're the end of one era... and the beginning of another."
He stood, lifting a curved blade from the table beside him.
"You will serve," he said simply. "Or you will die."
The blade gleamed under the torchlight—black metal, humming with dark energy.
I forced myself to steady my breathing.
Think.
Survive.
Dain would come for me.
Kaelith would come.
If I could just hold on.
The figure raised the blade—and cut a shallow line across my forearm.
I hissed in pain as my blood welled up.
The figure caught the drops in a silver bowl etched with runes.
The walls around me shivered, the air turning thick and heavy.
A ritual.
I fought the rising fear clawing at my chest.
The figure began to chant—low, guttural words that made my head spin.
The blood in the bowl pulsed, glowing faintly.
My vision blurred. My body felt heavy, foreign, like it was being dragged down into the stone itself.
No.
I wasn't going to let this happen.
I gritted my teeth and yanked against the chains with everything I had.
The runes on the shackles flared—but this time, instead of weakening me, something inside me fought back.
A spark.
A roar.
The memory of my wolf, fierce and furious.
The chains groaned.
The figure's chant faltered.
He turned, frowning.
Too late.
With a scream, I wrenched my hands free, the shackles snapping like brittle bones.
I crashed to the floor, rolling to my feet.
The figure lunged—but I was faster.
I slammed my shoulder into him, knocking him sprawling.
The blade clattered across the stone.
I sprinted for it, snatching it up as he snarled behind me.
His magic lashed out—a blast of freezing wind—but I ducked low, the spell shattering the stone where my head had been.
I turned, blade raised.
The figure laughed.
"You think you can kill me with my own weapon?" he sneered.
"No," I said, my voice low and steady.
"I'm going to kill you with mine."
From somewhere deep inside me, I called my wolf.
Power exploded through my body, raw and wild.
White fur rippled across my skin. My senses sharpened.
I shifted—not fully, but enough. A hybrid form. Stronger. Faster.
I lunged.
The black blade met the figure's chest, sinking deep.
His scream tore the air apart.
Light burst from the wound—blinding, searing. The stone beneath us cracked wide open.
The figure's body twisted, burning from the inside out.
He reached for me, mouth working soundlessly—then crumbled to ash.
Silence fell.
My chest heaved.
My hands still gripped the blade, smoking in the cool air.
It was over.
Or so I thought.
Behind me, something shifted in the shadows.
I spun around—
—and came face-to-face with Astra.
Alive.
Smiling.
Holding a dagger slick with blood.
And behind her—
Dain.
Collapsed on the ground, unmoving.
"No," I whispered.
Astra's smile widened.
"Did you really think it would be that easy